Additionnal info on the potential SDGT working in Congress

By Olivier Guitta

Here is some additionnal info to my post and the article I cowrote with my colleague Ilan Weinglass.
I am posting here a portion of the writeup we transmitted to the US Treasury last month regarding the potential Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity Mustafa Khalfi.
Khalfi is currently working among others for Congressman Jim Mc Dermott, famous for his 2002 Baghdad trip expressing support to Saddam Hussein.

Mustafa Khalfi’s Connections to Terrorism

Purpose of this dossier: To show that Mustafa Khalfi has links to Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities (SDGTs), and should not have been allowed to enter the U.S., let alone work at the US Congress because there is a prima facie indication that he should be designated a SDGT.

Mustafa Khalfi:

· Mustafa Khalfi is the editor of the Moroccan newspaper At-Tajdid, published by a Moroccan Islamist group known as the Mouvement de l’Unicité et de la Réforme (MUR).

· Khalfi is also a member of the Islamist Moroccan Parti de la Justice et du Dévelopement (PJD) .
· Khalfi is currently a Fulbright/American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow.

· As part of his fellowship, Khalfi is serving in Representative Jim McDermott’s (D-WA) Washington, D.C. congressional office.

At-Tajdid’s Connection to Interpal and the Union of Good:

· At-Tajdid has a link to the website of the “Union of Good” .

· Clicking on this link gives a choice of English or Arabic.

· Choosing “English” brings up a page on the Interpal website, stating “If you would like to make a donation click here,” with “click here” linked to http://www.interpal.org/web/101.htm . This statement is printed under the Union of Good logo. This is the only link on the web page.

· Choosing “click here” brings up the donation page of Interpal and apparently the Union of Good as a whole. This page contains the following message:
“IMPORTANT NOTE: Web pages relating to international donations are for individuals themselves to make personal donations to any of the participating charities. Any donation that is made to INTERPAL through this web page is distributed with the knowledge and approval of the other members of the Union for Good directly to the charities in Palestine that are implementing the work creation programmes.
This website is temporarily hosted by INTERPAL, London”

· Interpal is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity (SDGT) since August 22, 2003, pursuant to executive order 13224.

The Union of Good’s Connection to Hamas and Additional SDGTs:
· The Union of Good is allegedly an umbrella organization of Hamas-funding charities established in October 2000 by Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who serves as the group’s president . The Union of Good’s secretary general is Essam Yusuf Mustafa (a/k/a Essam Yusuf or Essam Mustafa), who is also the managing trustee of Interpal.

· At least five SDGTs are constituent organizations of the Union of Good:
o Interpal
o The Al-Aqsa Foundation, Belgium branch
o Comité de Bienfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP)
o Sanabil al-Aqsa
o The Palestinian Relief Society, Switzerland

The Union of Good’s Connection to the MUR and PJD:

· The Mouvement de l’Unicité et de la Réforme (MUR), the publisher of At-Tajdid, is also a member organization of the Union of Good .

· Dr. Abd Ziyad Al-Mughrabi al-Idrisi, who sits on the consultative council of the MUR, is a PJD parliament member, and also a trustee of the Union of Good.

Conclusion: Links between Mustafa Khalfi, At-Tajdid, the MUR, Interpal and other SDGTs have been clearly established. These findings are not surprising since At-Tajdid, the MUR and the PJD have been the most vocal supporters of Hamas in Morocco for a very long time.

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